Life as a super-tutor

Topes Calland tutors the offspring of the rich and the famous, said Barbara McMahon in the London Times. The Oxford University graduate is paid vast sums to teach kids with super-successful parents how to get good grades, and get along with peers. Most of them simply need a bit of one-on-one help. Then there are the ones he calls the “too-cool-for-school celebriteens,” who have serious behavioral problems. “The children of incredibly successful parents can be crushed by the feeling that they’re never going to be as successful,” he says. “Often they’re living in [an] environment that can intensify feelings of inadequacy, or they’re put in an expensive school they’re not suited for.” Rich parents often react by throwing money at the problem. Recently, Calland was working with a 12-year-old girl who had been reading The Diary of Anne Frank. “The mum canceled lessons for the next day and we flew to Amsterdam on the family jet to see the Frank museum,” he recalls. “I’m not sure it was quite as moving an experience as it might have been. There’s a shop at the end of the tour, with the diary translated into scores of languages. The girl’s response was: ‘This is crap! The gift store’s just full of books!’”

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up